Places on the bicycle route: Water-village Neidhardtsthal
The village Neidhardtsthal is situated in the valley of the Zwickauer Mulde River at the foot of the 57 m high Eibenstock Dam. As in the case of Blauenthal and Wolfsgrün, the foundation and development of this place was closely associated with the use of water power.
The small village emerged from a “Schwefelhütte”, (a foundry to produce sulphur and vitriolic acid). In 1612 the “Kurfürst of Saxony” (elector) finally gave the owner of this foundry the privilege to build an “Eisenhammer” (a hammer mill operated by water power). Already in 1614 the hammer mill was built and the first metal sheets were produced. In 1819 there were a blast furnace, two bar refineries, two sheet-metal refineries, and a tinplate/whitesmith workshop, as well as a “Zinnhaus Zainhammer”. Also, there was the “Hammerherrenhaus” baroque mansion and 19 other houses with approx. 140 residents.
From different vantage points above the village (e.g. On the road to Hundshübel) you can have a spectacular view of the dam and part of the dam lake that was built from 1974 to 1987, which is the largest drinking water reservoir in Saxony. In addition to supplying the whole area of Chemnitz and Zwickau with drinking water, the dam is used for flood protection, for saving water during low rainfall periods and also, to a certain extent, for hydropower.
Until the construction of the Eibenstock Dam, Neidhardtsthal had a railway connection to the railway line Chemnitz-Aue-Adorf. The last train run took place in October 1975.
Together with Wolfsgrün and Blauenthal, the water-village Neidhardtsthal was incorporated into Eibenstock on 01.01.1994
Stadt Eibenstock
Rathausplatz 1
D-08309 Eibenstock
Telefon: +49 (0)37752 / 57-0
E-Mail: stadtverwaltung@eibenstock.de
Homepage: www.eibenstock.de
Tourist-Service-Center Eibenstock
Dr.-Leidholdt-Str. 2
D-08309 Eibenstock
Telefon: +49 (0)37752 / 2244
E-Mail: touristinformation@eibenstock.de
Homepage: www.eibenstock.de